New York Mets defensive performance in 2019 is dark and full of errors

The 2019 New York Mets season is dark and full of errors. Through 87 games, the team has made more errors than any other National League team.

Great defense doesn’t always lead to success in the standings. However, it sure can help. For the New York Mets, their defensive woes have been somewhat overlooked because of the disastrous bullpen. Amazingly, it has been just as awful.

Through 87 games, the Mets lead the National League with 62 errors. Only four American League teams have made more errors than they have. Astonishingly, the Mariners have already surpassed 80 errors this season. Not even Ken Griffey Jr. in his prime could save them right now.

In Flushing, the biggest culprit in adding to the errors has been Amed Rosario. For a while, he was making one on what felt like a nightly basis. Though he has avoided them at such a high frequency in recent weeks, is 12 errors leads the team.

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This isn’t an absolute shock because of the position he plays. Shortstop is generally the place you will find the team leader in errors regardless of how well he plays defense. Unfortunately, Rosario’s defensive season is much worse than errors. He rates near the bottom in range factor. More and more it looks like a position change is in his future.

At the corners, Todd Frazier and Pete Alonso have also combined to make another 14 errors. While Alonso has performed better than expected most games, he has made some costly flubs. Heading into the final series of the first half, the team has only four players with a positive defensive WAR: Frazier, Jeff McNeil, Tomas Nido, and Wilson Ramos.

Negative defensive WAR numbers are far more common with this club. J.D. Davis has been a butcher with the glove anywhere the team puts him. Even the typically reliable Juan Lagares has not rated well in this statistic. Only Davis and Rosario have a worse number.

Coming into the season, knowing several men would play out of position often, I was prepared to see poor defense. They weren’t exactly flashing leather last year. What would make this season so special?

Well, things have been worse.

The last time a Mets player took home a Gold Glove was in 2014 when Lagares won his. This may not feel especially long. Given there are nine different positions capable of winning the honor, the Mets are overdue. As the great Keith Hernandez has openly said, this team doesn’t value defense.

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The bad defense has been contagious. Far too many nights this season have been dark and full of errors. We can blame the bullpen plenty. The manager deserves a finger pointed at him sometimes, too. Most consistently bringing this team down to the bottom of the National League is the bad defense.